Lamberti faces tough task as Republican

Though he tantalizingly left open the door to switching to the Democratic Party for months, appointed Sheriff Al Lamberti is seeking election to the job as a Republican.

It's a big gamble in Broward County, where Democrats are 52 percent of the registered voters. And the voters have been less and less kind to Republicans in recent elections. The County Commission is now 100 percent Democratic, as are all the countywide partisan offices and almost all of state legislators.

Chip LaMarca, chairman of the Broward Republican Party, thinks Lamberti could be the exception to recent history.

"He's the sheriff first, a Republican second or third," LaMarca said. "I think he'll have support from people on both sides because they realize Al is a professional."

Democratic Chairman Mitch Ceasar said Lamberti - a career law enforcement officer who hasn't been politically active before - is the strongest candidate the other party could have in a countywide election. Six Democrats have said they intend to compete in the Aug. 26 primary, and Ceasar said the winner would prevail in November.

Lamberti declined Friday to discuss his decision to remain a Republican. During the first few months of 2008, he didn't do much to tamp down chatter about the possibility he might switch. He typically responded to questions about a possible switch by saying he was a Republican at that point, while not ruling out the possibility of changing parties.

He's consistently said that he's running as a law enforcement professional, and politics shouldn't play any role in the way the Sheriff's Office is run.

It's now too late to switch. Since Lamberti filed papers indicating his plans to run as a Republican, which allowed him to start raising money, he would have had to make a switch six months before Election Day. That deadline has just passed, and he's still a registered Republican.

Ceasar said he thinks Republicans encouraged Lamberti to stay with their party by helping him raise money.

"The Republican Party moneybags were very smart in that they dumped hundreds of thousands of dollars into a sheriff's race to maintain Republican Party loyalty," he said.

Lamberti has gotten money and support from some Democrats, but Ceasar minimized the significance. "That's not the real money. Those are pennies."

Lamberti was appointed to the job last year by Gov. Charlie Crist after the elected Democratic sheriff, Ken Jenne resigned. Jenne is now in federal prison after pleading guilty to federal tax evasion and mail fraud charges.

Anthony Man can be reached at aman@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4550.

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For more about the race for sheriff and other political developments, read the Broward Politics blog at Sun-Sentinel.com/browardpolitics